Pruning implement



(No Model.)

G. JAMES.

PRUNING IMPLEMENT.

Patented Dec. '11, 1888.

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N. PETERS Phfllu-Lilhogrlplmn Washington, mc.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE JAMES, OF HEBRON, NEBRASKA.

PRUNING IMPLEMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,187, dated December 11, 1888.

Application filed December 20, 1887. Serial No. 258,525. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE JAMES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hebron, in the county of Thayer and State of Nebraska, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pruning Implements, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in pruning implements; and it has for its ob jects to provide a simple, strong, and easilyoperated device whereby two or more separated bougl'is maybe trimmed or severed at the same time.

A further object is to provide improved means whereby the separate cutting devices are sin'lultaneously operated.

The hereinafter described and illustrated implement is constructed in view of these objects; and it consists of a sliding frame operating on a handle or pole and having upward]y-divergent arms provided with hooked ends. (.utting-arms are pivoted near their outer ends to the said hooked arms, near the extremities of the latter, and the inner ends of the arms are connected to the pole or handle. The ends of the cutting-arms are provided with blades which operate against the sides of the hooks. This construction is more particulzu-ly described and the details are more fully set forth hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 'l is a side view. Fig. 2 is a similar view, partly in section, of same.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A designates the pole or handle of the device, and B designates the sliding frame, having the lower transverse bar, 0, provided with an aperture, c, and the upper transverse bar, D, which is provided with the longitudinal slot (Z. The pole or handle passes through the said aperture and slot. The sliding frame is further provided with the upwardlydivergent arms E and F, having hooks e and f on their upper ends, and the arm E is longer than the arm F. The cutt-ingarms G and H are pivoted at their outer ends, respectively, to the hooked arms E and F near their upper ends, and the arms G and H are provided with blades 9 and h, which out against the sides of the hooks, as indicated in the drawings. The upper end of the pole or handle is provided with a vertical stud,I, and the links K L connect the inner ends of the arms G and H to the said stud. It will now be seen that when the sliding frame is moved vertically relatively to the handle the cutting-blades will cut against the sides of the hooks; but if the arms are pivoted together with no longitudinal play the cut will be square. It is also well known that the square cut is much more diflicult to make and requires much more force than the drawing out. The pitots M and N, which connect the ends of the cutting-arms to the ends of the hooked arms, are secured rigidly to the latter, and the former are provided with inclined slots 0 P, which receive and operate on the pivots. Thus when the pole or handle is moved downward the swingin or cutting arms are operated, and when they arrive near the end of the stroke the slots allow a drawing motion of the blades with relation to the hooks,which is very effective in causing an easy, rapid, and clean separation.

The operation of the improved tool is as follows: Two or more boughs are engaged by the hooks at the upper ends of the divergent arms and the pole or handle is drawn downward, thus causing the cutting-blades to sever the boughs.

It will be seen that owing to the slot in the bar I) the upper end of the sliding frame is capable of considerable lateral swing, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and the object of this swing is to enable the cutters to cut both boughs simultaneously, even when they are of different thicknesses. \Vhen the bough grasped by one of the cutters is larger than that grasped by the other, the sliding frame inclines toward the larger bough, and thus enables an equal amount of power to be applied to both cutters. The advantage of this will be apparent, for if the frame were rigid it would be strained laterally when two boughs of different sizes were operated upon.

A stop, R, is arranged on the pole or handle to limit the downward movement of the sliding frame.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1.. In a pruning implement, the combination of the pole or handle, the frame sliding thereon and having the rigid divergent arms E and F, hooked at their upper ends, the out,

oted to the hooked arms and connected at their inner ends to the pole or handle, sub stantially as specified. V

Inetestimony that I claim the foregoing as 15 my own I have hereto affixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE JAMES.

lVitnesses:

T. S. FIsK, \VILLIAM SHEARER. 

